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Research Associates

Claudette Dumont-Smith

Claudette Dumont-Smith has been actively involved in the field of Aboriginal health since 1974. She is a registered nurse and has acted in various executive capacities with the Aboriginal Nurses Association of Canada both as a board member and as its’ first executive director and, more recently, as executive director of the Native Women’s Association of Canada, a position she held until her retirement in 2016. During her 43-year career, Claudette worked as a consultant for various National Aboriginal Organizations as well as for Aboriginal organizations at the regional and local levels. Ms. Dumont-Smith has moderated health conferences across Canada and has collaborated on numerous papers and manuals on Aboriginal health and violence against women and children. Ms. Dumont-Smith served as a member of the Aboriginal circle of the Canadian Panel on Violence Against Women, a blue-ribbon panel initiated by the Government of Canada in 1991. In addition, she served as Associate Commissioner for the National Aboriginal Child Care Commission of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, formerly known as the Native Council of Canada and, was appointed as a Commissioner on the Indian Residential School Commission for one year. Ms. Dumont-Smith is also an accomplished writer/researcher whose articles on a wide range of topics have been published by the Health Council of Canada, the Aboriginal Healing Foundation and the Aboriginal Nurses Association of Canada, among others. Ms. Dumont-Smith holds her Master's degree in Public Administration from Queen's University, Kingston and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Québec, Gatineau. In October 2017, Ms. Dumont-Smith was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws (honoris causa) degree from the University of Guelph.

Dr. Jordan Fairbairn

Dr. Jordan Fairbairn is an Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology at King’s University College, Western University, London, Ontario. Jordan’s research focuses broadly on gender, violence, and media, with a focus on social responses to violence against women and the role of digital technology in violence and violence prevention. She has published in various journals, most recently Critical Sociology and Feminist Criminology, as well as various edited collections. From 2015-2017, Jordan was a Postdoctoral Fellow with the Centre for Research and Education on Violence Against Women and Children (CREVAWC) at Western University. Jordan completed her PhD at Carleton University, where her doctoral research explored feminist public sociology and how stakeholders involved in violence against women prevention use and experience social media. Jordan has previously collaborated with the Ottawa Coalition to End Violence Against Women (OCTEVAW) as Chair of the Media Hub Advisory Committee to create resources with and for journalists reporting on violence against women, and as lead investigator on Crime Prevention Ottawa funded research on sexual violence, social media, and youth. Jordan received her MA from the University of Guelph and this research, published in Feminist Criminology, explored Canadian news portrayals of domestic homicide and how this coverage has changed over time. In her current work on domestic homicide prevention, Jordan is a collaborator with the Canadian Domestic Homicide Prevention Initiative with Vulnerable Populations (CDHPIVP).

Michèle Lauzon

Michèle Lauzon received her M.A. in Criminology and Criminal Justice Policy from the University of Guelph in 2013. She also completed a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Guelph, with a double major in Criminal Justice and Public Policy as well as Sociology in 2008. Her research interests reside within the area of victimology, including the social and legal responses to victims of crime. Michèle’s M.A. research examined Canada’s social and legal responses to victims of human trafficking in comparison to three other Tier 1 regions, or countries whose governments fully comply with the minimum standards set forth by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act’s (TVPA). These regions included the United States of America, Australia and the United Kingdom. Michèle is currently working on a research project with Dr. Myrna Dawson examining the social and legal responses to victims of domestic violence in China.

Anthony Piscitelli

Anthony Piscitelli is Professor with Conestoga College Institute of Technology & Advanced Learning in the Public Service program. He is also a PhD student in the Department of Geography at Wilfrid Laurier University. His doctoral research focuses primarily upon the spatial distribution of crime and victimization. Anthony Master’s research focused upon the connection between civic engagement and fear of crime. Anthony spent seven years with the Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council (WRCPC) where he authored, co-authored and supervised the writing of numerous research reports. His research with WRCPC examined a number of crime related topics including crossover children, gaps in services for victims and offenders of violence, and fear of crime. He also supervised a number of placement students with the WRCPC which resulted in various research reports and articles examining topics such as fear of crime, barriers to calling 911 in overdose emergencies and violence prevention initiatives. Anthony is an Associate with the Laurier Institute for the Study of Public Opinion and Policy. For his PhD, Anthony is working under the supervision of Dr. Sean Doherty, Wilfrid Laurier University.

Jessica Whitehead

Jessica Whitehead is currently a Master’s of Social Work (MSW) student at McGill University. Prior to this, she received a B.A. from the University of Waterloo's Arts and Business Co-operative program with Joint Honours in Legal Studies and Sociology in 2013 and an M.A. in Criminology and Criminal Justice Policy at the University of Guelph. Her M.A. research focused on police responses to incidents of intimate partner violence (IPV) that occur within same-sex relationships and compared them with occurrences between heterosexual partners. It explored the influences of heteronormativity and hegemonic masculinity on same-sex IPV reporting, recognition, and responses. Jessica is currently expanding upon this research with Dr. Myrna Dawson and Tina Hotton. At the same time, she is also working with Dr. Dawson to examine the effect of child presence and proximity on IPV sentencing in Canada. This research aims to determine whether the likelihood or length of sentences for IPV offences will be influenced if either of the parties involved is a parent or if there is a child witness to the incident.